What my sales week actually looks like

Hi there, welcome back to the podcast and great to have you with me as ever.

So this week I wanted to respond to a query that I had when I was walking to an event in the week and someone said to me, oh, what do you do?

And they said, I said, oh, yeah, I've got a sales business where we help companies grow, we train, we build platforms for them, for growth, and said, oh, so you're a failed salesman then?

And it really struck with me and so I wanted to.

And someone else has always also asked me in the podcast before do I apply my own techniques.

So I thought I'd just give a very brief.

It's not going to last particularly long.

Overviews to what a typical sales week looks like for me and I will share with you some successes from last week.

A couple of not failures, but a couple of areas where we could have things got things differently, done differently, but what a traditional sales week looks like for me.

Mainly because whilst the guy was joking, in part it did make me think, actually, do people think that I don't sell?

And for me, selling is a drug.

It's something I love to do.

My team will tell you if you reach out to me in my team, so Monya and Niche or Abby, they'll tell you one of my worst things is I sell too often.

I sell too much of the time.

I struggle to turn down business.

That's one of my big failings.

So I thought I'd just talk through an average sales week and how I try and build a sales week so that you guys can get a feel for what I try and do in that situation.

Now I'll talk through a couple of different scenarios today as well and how I approach those conversations and what they look like.

But yeah, just gives you a sense of, of, of maybe what we do and how we.

And I will start by saying my own business, for those that wanted to know, is a sales training business.

I have two businesses actually.

The first is a sales platform business training.

We help organizations build sales frameworks to grow and that can often be in a position where we will either train their team, so we've done some training recently, or we'll build some frameworks for their sales team to know how to approach sales conversations.

Or it can sometimes be that we'll even go in and help them do that directly.

So if it's related to sales problems and normally the companies we work with tend to be IT software, financial services, businesses, people that want to grow, that aren't getting the growth they want.

So to Give an example of last week.

What I try and do when I look at a week is try and make sure I try and plan out a day.

The first thing that's really important for me or plan out the week is to try and do some elements of what I would call some time blocking.

So what I will try and do is I will try and plan out the week based upon where I at, where I'm at and what I'm doing.

And this supposed to.

I'm lucky enough now that I've been able to build a team to have some people that work with me in, in the business.

Well, I try and ensure that we are focusing on sales activity certainly every week.

I'm a big believer in something what I call fat funnels.

So for me to be able to do the business that I do, I need lots of people at the top of the funnel.

And in what I mean by the top of the funnel is lots of people that are potentially interested in hearing about what it is or what I do.

And I talk about being fat funnels.

The fatter that funnel is, the more people you have up there, the more chance you have then of being in a position to convert business lower down the funnel and also the more people that want your services versus demand and supply that you have, you can move prices upwards to do more things.

So I was looking to try and build the funnel at the top of the funnel and for me, content is a really key part of that.

So if you connect with me on LinkedIn, if you haven't connected on LinkedIn, I'll put a link into the show.

James white sales on LinkedIn.

You can find me there.

I'm always sharing content on there.

I also have a YouTube channel, as you guys will know, called Diary of a Sales Expert, where I share videos on there, where we have links to different downloads and resources.

I've got a range of resources on my website which continually will generate leads for us.

So we've basically got, you know, a lot of content that goes out there.

But I also make sure that we focus on engaging with our target audience and people we want to engage with ourselves.

So I will try and look to, on a daily basis, connect with three potential business owners that I think could be a good fit for what we do and how we do it.

So from a firstly from a prospecting perspective, we're always visible to engage and to be on the front foot where I have time and sometimes, and this is again, I fight a battle here.

I'm often in client working clients clients on certain days.

So it's sometimes more.

It's harder for me to do that.

But I love the idea of prospecting time.

So what I have I can do is when I have a spare day, I will put some prospecting time aside and that will include maybe an hour or two for pick up the phone.

So I still pick up the phone.

I still love to pick up the phone and have conversations with people.

I don't know the conversations that I have in those situations and I was with a talking to a client this week about how to approach it are always value based.

So when I try and talk to a business owner, I will traditionally talk look your I'm talking to lots of business owners.

They want to grow.

I've got some resources that can help you do that.

Would you be interested in me sharing that?

And one of our content team have just produced a new resource called how to grow and build a business that can operate without you.

If you'd like a copy of that, let us know.

We can share that with you.

But the whole thing I will try and do is then share that with the people I'm talking to.

My approach to selling in those situations is not to draw to buy my services because I don't believe that approach works.

What I will do is try and create value and create an insight that makes the other person think.

Okay, this is helpful.

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As I said, we have content at the top of the funnel.

We also have what we call some lead magnets and the lead magnets we have are lead resources that go to a page.

So for example, one of my most popular resources is a 52 question sales resource and I also have a sales test.

And so we get people that will complete the sales test and it's called help.

I don't have a sales plan.

They complete that test.

And then I will pick the phone up to have a conversation with people.

And sometimes people say, oh, am I talking to James?

I'm like, yeah, hey, this is me.

I want to have a conversation with you.

So if you are listening to the podcast and you complete our help, I need a sales plan quiz.

You may well get a call from me.

And I'm very happy to have a conversation with you to find out a bit more about your business.

What's happening?

I was talking to a business owner a couple of weeks ago, a guy called Max.

If, Max, if you're listening, then great to have you still with us.

And he completed the scorecard and I picked up the phone, had a conversation.

And we've since then had some separate conversations where he's.

We've had some time to talk through some of the things that he wants to achieve and how I can maybe help that.

So, yeah, I will always try and make some time for sales every week.

I don't.

I think sales is like going to the gym.

If you go to the gym once and then expect to be fit, then you know it's not going to work.

You have to be doing it on a consistent basis.

So.

So firstly for me, it's about time blocking that.

So looking where I can, in my diary, put time aside for time booking.

But invariably I will try and connect with three people on LinkedIn every day.

I try and put three as a minimum.

And what I will generally do in those messages is most of the time, I'll send it without a note.

A lot of the time, I think sending a note can sometimes be a bit clunky and look a bit weird.

If I do engage with someone that I've not met before, though, that I think, no, I'd really like what they do or how they do it, then I will customize the message.

So I will customize the message based upon what I've seen them do or the messages I'll send to them will be based upon their situation.

So I might look at an award they've won recently or something they've achieved and connect from there.

So what we do, those first calls, whether it's the first call from an outbound activity that we make or whether it's an inbound lead opportunity, the first calls I'll do is I was always trying to have a conversation with people and find out a bit more about their situation.

So I had a call this week with an organization or person from an organization, and the first approach that I use in that conversation is to find out about.

About them.

And this is again, a secret of sales that I talk about a lot, that sales isn't about you as the seller.

It's about the other side.

So what I did ahead of that call and I've made, I had one of those calls this week where I did a bit of research, did a bit of social media searching.

So I got the person's name and searched on social media, on Google, sorry, to find out what I could about them and got a bit of background information.

And then I approached the call very much a human way.

So when I first picked up the phone and.

Sorry, when we first connected on the phone, I basically, you know, you know, ask some questions around how their morning's been, how they're, you know, have they had a good day and built up a little bit of rapport that way.

And when I felt, when I felt that person, yeah, was.

It was a little bit cautious.

Things I was like, really clear, right, great look, really great to speak to you.

Your time is valuable, so is mine.

What would make this conversation really useful for you?

And they proceeded to then tell me about some challenges they'd had in their business where they wanted to grow over the period of a year and that growth hadn't happened and they were a bit frustrated by it.

And I then proceeded to say, okay, talk me through that frustration.

What's driving you to get to that point?

What was the reason for things that happened?

So I went into a conversation with them around what stopped them from doing it.

I asked them to describe their business to me.

I asked them to describe their current team and what they have in place.

And so the first 15 minutes of that call was pretty much them talking for, I'm going to say, 90% of the time, and me just asking questions as and when they came up.

So one of the big secrets I talk about in sales a lot as well is if the other person is talking more often, then that's better.

You're in control.

Those that ask the questions are in control.

But if you're talking too much, then I'm going to tell you now, you probably need to reverse that.

It's probably going to be a stage where people feel that they've been talked at and that's not going to necessarily work for you.

So I had a good conversation with that person.

We talked about some challenges, as I say, that they were facing and some things they wanted to do and what I've then been able to say and what I always do.

And again, I've said This in many different podcasts and episodes.

What I will always do is at the end of a conversation I will always then arrange a date and time for the next meeting.

And from that but what I will always say and this is exactly the words I used look really enjoyed chatting today.

What I'd like to do is arrange a follow up conversation with you.

How does next I think we've got a meter book now for two a week and a half time because that person's on holiday.

How does that time work?

Let's put that in the diary.

I'll send you the invite now.

If it, I'll send you some information in the meantime related to your issue and if it turns out that on that date you have found another solution or you feel it's not right for you anymore, no dramas, just let me know on that call.

I just don't, let's just have the conversation to at least know where we both are.

So what I've done is I've automatically in that space given them the ability to go, okay, I'm not going to be sold to now.

Even though we may have a conversation around some of what I can do at that point in time, at that stage, they don't feel like they've been sold to.

They feel like they've been helped because I'm sharing some value for them.

So, so that's what we, what we're going to do is we've got a meeting booked up, I'm recording this on, in, in the middle of July and we've got a meeting booked up towards the end of July where I have another sales conversation with that person and see what happens.

So I also have, as you guys know, a business called Growth Resourcing, which is a calling business in South Africa where we pick up the phone and have calls for companies.

And I had a call with an organization this week again around the same thing.

They've been looking to recruit some salespeople and have been struggling to do that.

So I had a sales call with that team.

I don't actually think that company is right for us.

And the reason, the honest answer is they were looking for a really cheap resource.

They felt that South Africa was a really cheap, cheap resource and country to get people in place.

And it is, don't get me wrong, you can get some very cheap resources there.

But our focus at Growth Resources is not on the cost, but it's all about the value and the quality of the people we bring on board.

And I was, you know, I was quite, it was quite clear to me early in the process that they were going to focus on price as being the, the issue.

And I was then at that point, okay, a little bit wary.

It sent some red flags for me and I was quite clear to them that yeah, you can get people on board that are a very good value but the quality can sometimes let you down and you can waste time and energy doing that.

So we have arranged for a follow up conversation.

I've shared a little bit of information around our team and what we do, but I felt at the end of the conversation and I actually think the words I used were it's probably likely that we're not a good fit for you based upon the requirements you have.

So one of the other key elements around sales is if you can use your intuition but also some questions that you ask to what I call triage leads, then that's a better thing for you to do.

And the reason being is because if you triage leads at an early stage, and what I mean by triage is that you ask the questions to know which direction to put them.

In this particular case, I'm being honest, not going to put a huge amount of time and effort into that conversation.

The reason bit, I'll have the next discussion follow up and I've just done a simple email to them which was a summary of our conversation which AI provided a lot of that detail for me anyway.

But I'm not going to carry on sharing loads and loads more details.

And you know, they talked about a proposal.

I said like, we'll come to that at a point in time once we get a bit more information from you.

When I share a couple of resources, but I don't think they're a good fit.

They're looking for a really cheap resource and we're, you know, obviously it's cheaper than necessarily hiring someone in the uk, but if price is the only issue, I'm sort of walking away.

So.

So triaging or being able to make sure you assess new leads is a really key part of the sales process.

And so my big message to you from that is don't just sell to it and think every lead is the same.

Ask the questions.

You, you know, yes, you'd like to work with everyone but your time and energy and emotion is more important.

So whilst I love winning business and I smile when I win business, I'm going to share with you a story where I've won business this week.

In that situation, I don't think it's going to be a good fit.

So the Other thing I also then do and I should have said this maybe at the start is so you know, when I'm trying to find new business, one of the things I will also do is a lot of networking.

Those that have followed me or, or seen me on, on, on social media.

I love my golf.

I'm a big fan play to have a handicap of eight.

So I'm not amazing golfer but I'm.

I'm okay and love to go to golf.

I'm.

I'm actually captain of an organization this year which is called mashi.

If you've not heard of MASHI networks and wanted to get involved in Mashi, reach out to me.

If you're a golfer, let's have a conversation.

So I attended a golf event on Wednesday night and, and that was where this person said to me sales people tend to be at failed salespeople.

So that was where this, he inspired this, this podcast episode.

But what I also then did is had a day on the following day, a Thursday a golf day in in Surrey where we I met maybe two of the guys and that was a brilliant day.

Sometimes you meet people on the course and it can be workout really, you know, doesn't work out.

But the two guys I met were both really big potential opportunities certainly for growth resourcing.

And one of the people I met on the Thursday we actually had a conversation on the Friday afternoon to talk about what our growth resources team could do.

They run a venue in London.

They don't need to have enough people coming to that venue.

It's a brilliant venue.

I've been there and we talked about how someone could pick up the phone and just have some conversations with local businesses and we're probably going to do some business as a result of that.

So the way I've left it is very much a case of we're actually going to have a follow on meeting next week so to talk through what those options are and we're going to send them an outline of what it looks like.

But I was very clear about he as a business owner and this is again something I've learned in sales conversations I encourage you to look at.

It's not everyone is the same.

So I looked at this guy and I was like, you know, as a business owner he's quite direct about what he wants and what he's looking for.

But very nice guy.

And I was able to go okay, I know I need to be a little bit direct back.

If I'd have been a bit obtuse and not shared information he would have got frustrated.

So I shared information back and yeah, so we're going to potentially do some business with Growth Resource and he's going to take maybe one, maybe two but certainly one of our Growth Resource in team in South Africa to make calls to get people to attend his venue.

So that was one of those calls.

And then the other thing just to finish off this session around selling was I had a call on the Friday afternoon with an organization based in Wales that I'd been referred to.

So a good contact of mine who's someone who's known and worked with me and seen the work that I do had referred me to these two directors of company and they are want to be in a position where they, they've basically doubling their business.

They've got a financial incentive with a, with a company that's made an investment in them that if they can double their revenue over the course of the next two years that they can, it will help them achieve their earn out basically.

And long story short they are two engineers who don't feel they know have all the information on how to build a sales engine to get to that place and we're going to work together.

So my week finished off or Friday afternoon with me selling our initial day that we do.

So whenever I work with any organization the first thing I will do is to go in and spend time in that organization for a day.

I don't think it's right that you can try and advise people on how they can grow and double their business and build without spending time with them.

When I spend time in companies I get a sense of what's going on, what's happening in the business, the dynamics of the people, what's working well, what's not working well, it's just better.

And I do that face to face still and I still do that face to face because I feel I can get a sense of what's happening in order to give them the best possible advice and that I also have in this situation.

This was the second call that we'd had.

In the first call we talked about what that solution could look like and it outlined some elements of how it would work, where we will go in and then we'll provide some support and help over a period of 6 to 12 months for them to then build this engine and build these people in place.

And I was very honest, open with them about what they needed, shared some value in there as well.

So shared some things of what they can do.

And what I also said in that same conversation is the same as what I've said in other sales conversations.

And again, maybe you think, you know, why is he doing this?

I said to them, look, we'll have this day and if it turns out you don't like me and you don't feel that I can, I'm a good fit to work with you, then I'll be the first to say, hey, let's leave it there, guys.

At least you've got a report in.

In that first day, we provide a plan outline that says, in order to achieve what you want, you need to do the following.

I said, you, at least you'll have a map to be able to then go and do what you want to do and to move forward from that place.

And that's what we'll do.

And we'll do that on.

Well, we've booked that in now for the early part of August to have that day where I'll go on site with them, get to know a bit more about them, what's happening, and help them build their plan to achieve the revenue numbers that they want to.

And if it's not possible, I'll also tell them that one of the things I think it's really important for me to do is to tell the executives, you know, what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.

And in some situations, if they need to make changes or do different things, then I'll share that as well.

So, yeah, so my week by Friday, even though I had three days on site, sorry, two days on site with clients and then a day, you know, playing golf.

There you go.

I. I achieved.

I had four sales calls of which one resulted in or two resulted in or one definitely resulted in business.

We actually got the confirmation from the customer that they're keen to go forward and one which will result in business as well.

So they say to those people that say, I don't sell, there's your answer.

I sell and love to sell.

And if I could sell every day, I would.

If I could sit on call, you know, to me, there's nothing better than having calls with people and digging in and find out that they're a fit and then helping them, you know, solve some issues.

So I still think selling, as I said at the start, is a drug.

It's something I feel great about.

I feel like a peacock when it happens.

I'm going to tell you, if you're listening to this and if you were the person that we've agreed business with, I came off that phone buzzing a.

Because I'm excited to work with that company.

And I am truly excited.

I'm going to make a big impact for them.

But B, because the feeling of winning business just feels amazing.

And I was at home and I went down and told my wife and she said, you know, she saw my smile on my face and she was able to say, you know, you've, you've won another deal, haven't you?

And I was like, yep.

And that's what I love doing.

So, yeah, so don't listen to the fact that people think that every sales trainer or sales trainers are failed salespeople.

I still sell every, every, every, every week, certainly where I can.

I have conversations with people certainly on a weekly basis.

I connect, I do things to make stuff happen and it's why I've been able to grow my business.

And my business is a, you know, as a small business, I'm going to say, but we, you know, we'll hit record numbers this year.

We're probably going to grow up 30% from our revenue from last year and we're pushing upwards towards achieving revenue of £400,000, which for, for a training business and with, with three people, I think is, is pretty good.

So, yeah, we're making good, straight steps forward.

So.

Sorry to interrupt the podcast, but if you've got a sales issue at the moment that's really hacking you off, challenge me, I'll help you solve it.

Reach out to me.

Drop an email at hello Amesworth Business, and I will help you solve your sales challenge.

There's not one I don't think I can't handle.

There's no sales issue that I can't resolve.

I've seen them all over my career.

I want to help you solve yours.

So, so reach out to me.

Let's make sure we handle your sales challenges and fix them so you can get back to smiling again.

Now, back to the podcast.

So I thought I'd share that with you.

I hope it's been interesting and useful.

If it hasn't, then you'll tell me, I'm sure, but let me know.

Reach out, as I always do on the comment section.

James White, Sales.

If this is helpful or not.

If it is, then which are the bits that you found most helpful?

Which were the bits that you want more insight on?

But as I always do, I finished the podcast on an inspirational story and I wanted just to do the story of a guy called Terry Fox.

Terry's based in Canada and he lost a leg to cancer a number of years ago and he embarked in something, what he called the Marathon of Hope, where he wanted to obviously run, raise money for cancer research.

And Terry ran over 3,300 miles for, for this cause and now runs a series of workshops and toy workshops of series of events worldwide to help people deal with cancer.

And I thought when someone's had lost a leg, the easy thing for us all to do is to say, ah, no, it's okay, I'm not going to do something this time, or we'll leave that to it.

Or, you know, okay, it's easy to give an excuse and I just think something like Terry Fox's story, which is that he didn't want to give an excuse, he wanted to do what he wanted to do and, and then set about doing it.

And when you think about running 3,300 miles with one leg, that's, that's a pretty big thing that he's done.

So, yeah, congratulations.

Take inspiration from Terry as someone.

If he's, you know, he went through a tough day, he came through it and is now inspiring other people, you know, how can you do the same thing?

So that's it for this week.

I hope it's been helpful and useful for you and you've enjoyed it.

Listen to the stories around how I.

What an average sales week looks like for me next week.

I've got, as I say, more days with clients.

I'm with clients, I think on three of those days.

So it's great that we're busy, but I always still make time for selling and selling, it's key.

And I encourage you to make some time for selling today.

Get your diary out.

Put two, even if it's one or two hours in the diary for, for calls or for emails or for LinkedIn connections or whatever it is you do make time for sales.

You have to do it every week.

You should become really, I think an hourly discipline per day if you can.

And if you make that happen, then you're going to see results.

Not straight away, but over time, like going to the gym.

You don't get fit straight away, but over a consistent period of time, you get results.

And that's the same for selling.

That's it for this week.

Thanks for listening, guys.

As ever.

Have a brilliant week.

Stay safe and I'll see you then.

Take care.

So thank you so much for listening to this episode.

I hope you've enjoyed.

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